We live in an increasingly connected world, where people are connected to each other and to all kinds of machines in order to access useful information that aids in decision-making. Furthermore, machines talk to other machines to obtain or provide data that could be useful to enhance operation for either or perhaps both machines. New wireless technology and common communication protocols (e.g. internet, bluetooth, NFC, etc.) facilitate such sharing in an easy and affordable manner. Cooking stoves, both gas and electric, are sold and installed without a the presumption that a hood will be present to provide ventilation, despite the fact that the ASME standards for gas stoves, which allow for trace amounts of CO, are based on the assumption that the stoves are vented. However, many are not and even those that are generally use a range hood with a fan that must be switched on manually. Many people do not turn these venting fans on unless there is detectable smoke or odor or if the kitchen becomes excessively hot.
Experts say that American households in general and kitchens in particular are seriously under-ventilated. Many homes are constructed with hoods that do not vent outdoors, and many people do not use their hoods routinely when cooking. They don't like the noise, or the fact that the hoods use extra power and remove conditioned air from the house. When they do use them, they often leave the room and forget to turn them off, which can waste a good deal of additional energy both from the fan itself and the loss of heated or cooled air.
The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) issued its Standard 62 which covers residential ventilation that recommends that cooking stoves be serviced by a ventilation hood that vents outdoors. This standard is becoming incorporated into municipal building codes which will lead to a gradual incorporation of hoods and stoves being used in concert.
One reason that automatic range hood controls have not yet been popularized is because designing one that works effectively is difficult. Unlike a household furnace, whose thermostat can effectively control the temperature in the house since it controls the source of the heat, a range hood controller has no control over the source of the heat or the fumes or the steam. Therefore it must react without knowledge of what the stove is doing or whether the heat or smoke it just detected is increasing, decreasing or being produced at a steady rate.
Turning to the subject of cooking, this has been a primarily manual operation throughout most of human history. There are dedicated appliances that can automate the cooking of specific foods, such as popcorn makers, coffee makers and rice cookers. Microwave oven have a number of preprogrammed setting the provide an approximated amount of heat and time to cook certain foods such as baked potatoes.
There are also baking and roasting ovens available with pre-programmed settings and interactive displays to help a user through the process of cooking a roast or baking a cake, changing the temperature levels at predetermined times. The user must tell the oven the approximate weight of the food they want to cook.
But cooking on a stovetop has remained a primarily manual process throughout most of history. As such, it requires constant attention, which in this distracted age, and with an aging population, is increasingly harder to come by. As the result of inattention, pots can boil dry and become damaged, food will overcook or burn, causing food wastage, smoke and other potentially dangerous airborne contaminants and possibly even fire. A system that can reliably monitor food that is cooking on a stovetop and take judicious corrective action, would be a welcome addition to many homes for enhanced health, safety, security, economy, and dining enjoyment.